Crowley's fine Dining
by Imgonnaneedabiggermouth
Summary: Hells Kitchen AU. Dean snagged a job at Crowley's, an expensive restaurant owned by Crowley McLeod. His interest is piqued by his station-mate, Castiel Milton. While adjusting to life in New York City, Dean gets caught up in the lives of socialites. All the while falling for the messy black-haired man whose father is the wealthy Godric Milton.


Dean tightened the knot on his apron, the heat of the kitchen was just starting as tonight's dinner crowd rushed in. He had been working in the restaurant for about a week, and still wasn't used to the stress. But it kept him alive, when the stress came it meant excitement. A pan full of sautéing onions were clutched in his left hand as his right hand decorated a chocolate cake with caramel. The head chef, Gabriel, barked out orders as he slapped a salmon fillet on a pan with a loud sizzle. Dean finished off decorating a steak right as Balthazar came to collect it. As always, he was quick and fluid as he winked at Dean before walking away with the platter full of food. The restaurant, called Crowley's, was nestled in uptown New York. The wait list was almost a week long and filled with some very important people. The manager and owner, Crowley McLeod, ran a tight ship. Dean was focused on a shrimp scampi when he heard someone call his name in a gruff voice. He looked over to his stove-mate Castiel.

"Do you have any mint?" He asked, motioning to a sauce he was mixing. Dean quickly grabbed a handful from one of his dishes and handed it to him, their fingertips brushing. Dean hadn't had much time to meet his co-workers, but Castiel seemed like a nice guy. He was a little bit quieter than the others, but he was very efficient and talented. Sometimes Dean would take a moment to watch his technique, the way his mix would be smooth with a few flicks of a whisk. Even the way he stuck his tongue out while he was being careful.

When the night was over, they began to clean up their stations. Crowley came in, smiling, as he put the menu's away in a slot. "Great job tonight, Cas, I got a lot of compliments on your mint sauce." Cas' eyes went to Dean, who pretended not to notice. "And Dean, come to my office later." He felt more eyes lay on him and immediately felt uncomfortable. Trying to shift their attention, he went to go get it coat. He felt footsteps after him and turned to meet Balthazar.

"Listen, love, I was wondering if you're free for some coffee or something, maybe tomorrow." He smiled. Dean wondered absently why so many of the workers here at accents.

"Uh, I'm sort of busy with moving into my new apartment." Dean's mind was going a mile a minute. He had never been asked out by a guy before, or maybe Balthazar was just being friendly. Dean was no good reading people.

"Oh, I'm sorry if you don't swing that way, but honestly, what a waste. Even if you don't want to date, you're new to the city, let's hang out. I can give you the dish on all the workers here." His voice flowed over the words like honey in his accent and Dean was relieved Balthazar seemed to read people just fine.

"You know what," Dean shrugged. "That actually sounds nice."

"Great." Balthazar scribbled his number on a napkin and handed it to Dean. "You need some good fashion advice, he gave a tug on Dean's jacket with a look of distaste. Waiting is my side job, I spend most of the day designing for Armani."

"Armani?" Dean's eyebrows raised.

"Long story, a little nepotism, and a lot of talent." He threw a scarf over his shoulder dramatically. "See you tomorrow." He kissed both of Dean's cheeks. "Oh, and big bad Crowley only wants to talk about your pay." He smiled and left to go home. Dean stood still for a moment, contemplating what had just happened.

Dean felt a little better honestly. He had just moved to New York and felt pretty alone. He had left his father in Albany, while his brother went to Cornell for law. Walking into Crowley's office, Dean took a seat while the Scottish man finished typing on his small computer.

"Hello Dean." He began in his gravelly voice. "So first of all, welcome to the team. I've heard some great things about your food already, so no worries." He smiled. "On the matter of pay, I am giving the chefs a raise. Here's your check for the first week." He pulled it out of a folder on his neat desk. "So that's all Mr. Winchester. Wait, sorry, if you want to work a few more nights, a few opened. The chef you replaced used to work Monday through Friday, so would it be difficult for you to pick those up?" Dean jumped on the opportunity. He left the office, into the dimly lit kitchen. Gabriel was busy locking up the freezer and Cas stood next to him, arms crossed, and lips moving quickly. Gabe turned to him and put his hand up with an exasperated expression. Castiel noticed Dean watching and his lips stopped moving, Gabe's eyes followed Cas' line of sight and his mouth turned into a mischievous smile. He patted Cas' shoulder and gave him a push towards Dean.

"Hey, Dean." Cas walked up casually.

"I was just leaving." Dean smiled.

"I just wanted to welcome you, I haven't exactly had the free time to do so. Let me walk you to your car." Dean looked up at the man following him. Cas had the bluest eyes he had ever seen, and the thought felt corny even as it went through his head.

"I actually took my bike, I'm saving up for a car. I'm going shopping for one this weekend."

"It's a little late, why don't you let me drive you home?" Cas offered, with a timid smile.

"No, man, I could never ask you to do that."

"Please," He looked at Dean with those blue eyes. "My last station-mate was quite horrible."

Dean finally gave up. The walk was quiet, but not awkward. Cas had a sleek black Lexus with pale leather seats. The engine purred as they pulled out of the well-kept employee's parking lot. The restaurant was separated by a hedge, right next to a bank on Fifth avenue. "So, where do you live?"

"Just a few blocks down, at The Persephone." He pointed down the road.

"Do they have any open apartments?" Cas inquired. "You know, I uhh, my old apartment it getting knocked down to re-build." He seemed hesitant.

"There are a few on my floor." Dean smiled, "Wanna come in and look around, maybe even talk to the front desk?"

"I'd like that." Cas looked to Dean at a red light. The night left Cas as a silhouette in the dark, the blue illumination of the dashboard sending his eyelashes as long shadows. They got out in the lot and went into the building. It was big, with marble floors and a chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceiling. A fountain depicting a group of nymphs sat beside a relaxation area. "Hey Joshua." Dean smiled at the older doorman.

"Hello, Mr. Winchester. How was tonight's crowd?"

"Nice," He grinned. "Not too bad, only got one burn." He joked. The doorman chuckled and gave Castiel a nod. They went up to the front desk, and the receptionist gave Cas the keys to a condo on the same floor as Dean so he could tour it. They got on the lift together, and made some small talk. Dean learned that Cas' father was a very famous business man, who wanted his son to pursue something just as important. He had lived in the upperEast side his whole life, going to private school and vacationing in the Hamptons. Crowley's was family owned as well, and much of the staff were either family friends or related. It turned out, Gabriel and some guy named Lucifer were his brothers. Dean had laughed at the name, but Castiel didn't smile. Lucifer was the bar tender at Crowley's on the weekend. They got to the fifth floor, and walked down the hallway to Cas' room. It was a few doors down with a very spacious view of the city. The pay from Crowley's wasn't shabby at all, and even though The Persephone was pricey, it was close and convenient.

"This is actually perfect." Cas said, looking at Dean.

"Thanks, it would be kinda awesome knowing someone on my floor, and the whole Crowley gang seems really nice." The two had another quiet moment. "Well, I'm gonna go. I have some Car shopping tomorrow, plus Balthazar is coming over."

"Wait, he's coming here?" Cas turned around quickly. "Was he too forward?" Cas' face was controlled, but he seemed to be hiding a strong expression.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"If you're meeting you must have said yes to him." Castiel's seemed to get a hold of himself.

"You mean you think I said yes to a date?" Dean drew his eyebrows.

"That's a relief." Cas said, immediately regretting it.

"Castiel?" Dean came closer to him.

"I'm sorry." Cas' turned away awkwardly.

"It's ok, I just don't, I really." Dean was stuttering. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Dean left the room, and Cas was silent.

Castiel Milton felt like an idiot, a feeling he almost never had. He had noticed Dean the first day he started and hadn't focused on much else. The way he looked angry when he was simply concentrating. And no matter how messy he made the dish, it always turned out beautiful. Castiel had seen the way Balthazar so easily flirted with the new chef and became fast friends. He needed to be more outgoing, Gabriel had known about Cas' orientation since High School. Despite his air of selfishness, Gabriel noticed everything, and when his brother wanted something, he always pushed him to take it. He hand't even told Gabriel about Dean, yet he found himself in the same apartment as the man. He left in time to see Dean's door close. Signing up for the condo was easy, and he was on his way home when he remembered Dean's bike. He ran by Crowley's and knocked on the back door. His uncle opened it with a condescending smirk.

"Did that new cook turn you down?" He chuckled. "I hired him for you, and I got an amazing cook, thank you. I heard your whore of a cousin got shut down."

"He's not a whore." Cas pushed past Crowley.

"I heard he stripped his way through college."

"You know that was a rumor Gabe started… He did it for fun, Milton's don't need to work for anything."

"Oh don't get all depressed on me. If that sorry cad has any sense, he'll date you." Cas' smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I came here to pick up his bike. I'm moving into his apartment complex."

"Dammit Cas, he's got you hooked. I've never seen you this way, and only after a week. How's your father going to react when he hears you're moving out?"

"He can deal with it." Cas took Deans bike out of the back hallway, luckily it wasn't locked.

"How petulant." Crowley chuckled.

"Goodbye Uncle." Cas nodded. The bike fit in the back seat and he drove back to The Persephone. Joshua stood at the door, even though it was nearing 12pm. "Could you give this to Dean tomorrow?" He parked the bike near the door.

"Wouldn't you rather bring it to him?" He asked.

"I don't want to bother him." Joshua simply nodded and took the bike with a small smile on his lips.

Cas headed to his father's house, and turned into the long driveway of the penthouse. "Welcome Mr. Castiel." One of the housekeepers greeted him. He nodded and moved to his father's office. Godric Milton sat at his desk, glasses pushed down to the crook of his nose and pinstripe suit in perfect condition. His hair was salt and pepper, a memory of the black his youngest son had inherited. His eyes were light brown, like his middle child, while the purse of his lips had gone to his eldest. They all worked at Crowley's as a favor to their uncle, who was not really a people person. Most of the employee's had jobs outside of the restaurant. Gabriel held a position as a writer on a comedy show, working until 4, going home from the restaurant at 10. While Lucifer was a lawyer, who used bartending as a stress relief; Gabriel would have said it was just because he was lonely. They had planned on working until he found new employee's, but none of the boys had wanted to quit. Their Dad's eyes raised at this moment to his youngest son.

"Castiel, it's a surprise. Usually you've gone to bed." His eyes flicked back to what he was writing.

"I wanted to tell you that I have bought an apartment, and plan on moving out."

"Where to?" He smiled up at his son.

"The Persephone."

"You know Lawrence built that, it's beautiful, maybe a little low-end." He raised a single eyebrow. "Do you need money? I am proud of you having two jobs, but really now? When do you plan on quitting that silly culinary job and focusing on your new restaurant opening?"

"It's planned for a month." Castiel absently fiddled with his tie.

"So, have you been seeing anyone?" Castiel could feel the way his father stopped caring with the absent minded question.

"No, father." He left and went to his room to pack. In the end he shucked off all his clothes and collapsed on his bed, passed out. He woke up at 12 am and groggily got dressed in a loose fitting v-neck shirt or as his father called it "hippie outerwear." To make it even worse, he wore loose fitting yoga pants with the ensemble. His father was at lunch when he went downstairs for breakfast. Gabriel seemed to have joined them and gave his little brother a smile.

"How did last night go?" He asked. Cas stayed quiet for a while. "That bad? Jesus, Cas, did you offend him or attack him? Did you tell him how much you enjoyed reading?" He laughed at his own joke.

"No, I expressed interest." The two looked over at their father, who was invested in a newspaper article. "He seemed unprepared, I don't blame him. If he isn't interested I will not push it at all. Besides, It's only been a week."

"That's right, let him come to you. Show him your sex-ay side." Gabriel ran his hand down his face theatrically. "Crap, I gotta' go, some idiot actors having some stupid meltdowns. Apparently I'm the only one who can calm them down." Gabriel gave his brother a pat on the back and left.

Dean settled down in front of the TV with a bowl of froot loops. He had changed into his pajama's and focused on what Cas had said while Big Bang Theory played in the background. The guy was attractive, that was undeniable. He had googled the Milton name earlier, and his dad was some big tycoon on wall street. He was certainly privileged, but didn't act like the snooty rich kid Dean would expect him to be. He regretted his words later that evening. Maybe turning him down was wrong, but he felt it was too soon. He looked at Balthazar's number and decided to text it. The reply came surprisingly quick saying he should meet him at Armani. Dean had to inquire as to where that was. Apparently, the office was above the store, which was one of the many fashion designers based there. Dean was interested in seeing where Cas' cousin worked. Putting down his cereal, he fell asleep to the sound of Sheldon explaining to Penny why she shouldn't do something because of some scientific reason. He woke up on his mattress with a small flannel sheet pulled up to his neck. He still had unpacking to do. Grabbing his matching bedspread, he tucked the elastics band under the edge of the bed. Well that was done. Dean had few guilty pleasures, but a large bed was one of them. He had spent an entire pay check on a king size bed a few years back. Another pleasure was listening to Christmas music during the summer. His mind went back to his new check. He slipped it out of his wallet and placed it on the kitchen counter. He had already unloaded all of his cookware and the kitchen was finished. It looked damn good, even though he didn't have a designer bone in his body. He scrambled up some eggs and bacon and sat eating at the kitchen table. He felt alone, used to Sammy reading at the table silently, it was the fact he was there that counted. After he washed his dishes, he went to his closet to get dressed for the day. A plain dark blue shirt and jeans couldn't be that big of a taboo, could it? He went down to the lobby, with his check in his wallet. He planned on cashing it later that morning. Joshua greeted him, and pushed a bike out of the spacious coat closet.

"Mr. Winchester, Mr. Milton left this here for you last night."Dean took the bike from Joshua. Castiel must have went all the way back to Crowley's to get it back to him. Dean smiled to himself, this was too much, in his experience nothing this good lasted this long. His mind cut to a dog, darkness, a man, a man with a gun. His Mom, running to pull him away. His father yelling in the background, the dog charging. Dean brought himself back to reality with a choke, he realized he was close to tears. Joshua pulled him into a hug.

"You ok, Dean?" He asked, Dean nodded slowly into his shoulder. "You know, not everything has to be bad." He said, almost reading Dean's mind. "Sometimes life works out when you take the control." Dean wiped the memories of his mother away and left the building, giving Joshua a solemn nod.

The warm air cleared his head, as he rolled down 5th avenue. Fashionista's walked down in ridiculous high heels. He felt out of place, but he did notice a lot of them staring at him. He stopped at a cross walk and spotted Armani ahead. A women to his right smiled widely at him. She was young, and dressed in a tight pink dress with glasses and star buck's clutched in her hand. What was wrong with him? Usually he would be flattered, and he sort of had a thing for glasses. But her hair was blonde, not black. He stopped himself before he looked at her eyes, hoping for dark blue. The light changed and he rode past her without a second thought. He parked in front of Armani and latched his bike to a post which was already busy in vintage bikes. Jesus, it was like even their modes of transportation were fashionable. He walked in and asked for Balthazar at the front desk. He was directed to the lift and rode it to the second floor. He found Balthazar making adjustments on a mannequin with a small group of interns watching.

"Oh bless the lord, the beautiful Dean has arrived." He walked to his friend with open arms and they hugged. Dean felt severely out of place. "So sorry kittens, but I'm afraid I have some shopping to do with my friend here." Dean wondered how he could call his students "kittens" and have it sound so natural. Balthazar had a loose white button up shirt that contrasted with his perfectly tanned skin. He had bracelets on his wrists and a tape measure looped around his neck. They left a few minutes later and walked down the avenue together. They stopped in Versace first. Despite Dean's protests were ignored as Balthazar started taking down things from the hooks and piling them onto one of the store assistants. One of the workers greeted Balthazar as an old friend and they walked Dean to the dressing room. His first outfit started out simple enough, a grey speckled blazer with leather elbow pads and a soft pink button-up shirt beneath it. The pants were straight folded brown. Despite his complaining, Balthazar and the attendant ignored him. "Shut up, you're a mannequin today." Balthazar clapped for the first outfit and smiled. "That's a keeper. But let's get more casual." He tossed Dean a pair of grey cargo pants and a forest green shirt with stripes. Dean was pleased with this one, it was comfortable and easy to move in. The next was formal, a button up vest in maroon over a white shirt with a black tie. A suit jacket in black went over it and pants to match. Dean tried on a few more outfits and Balthazar proclaimed them all perfect.

"Well, this was fun." Dean smiled as they left the dressing room.

"Certainly not, I saw your boxers and the hole in them. And despite how illuminating it was, that's unacceptable." Balthazar motioned the attendant to carry all of the clothes Dean had tried on. Balthazar grabbed a variety of boxers in Dean's size and made way for the checkout.

"No, no way. I don't have enough money for all of this."

"Don't worry, us designers are tight. I did a catalog for Versace a month ago, and I get free clothes for most of the year." He pulled out a silver card and handed it to the cashier. Despite Dean's objections he was at a loss for argument. Technically it was all free to him. "So where to next?" They walked down the street.

"I need to go car shopping and cash a check." Dean answered.

"Ugh, boring." Bal complained. The two ended up at a jeep dealer. Dean had always had a pension for the sort of rugged design they had. He had enough saved for a pretty nice car, and bought a dark green commander. Balthazar had a good time childishly sitting behind the wheel and pressing buttons. A few minutes of paperwork later, they were cruising down the street. They parked by a bank and Dean was soon done with his errands. Balthazar suggested a nice café down the street across from a small park. They ate their sandwiches on a bench in the park. It was so quaint, like a scene in a movie. Even with the occasional grinning jogger, Dean felt pretty content. What he didn't expect to see was Castiel running alongside a very attractive young woman a few meters away. She had red hair and both were dressed in shorts all the while clearly invested in an argument. Balthazar moaned. "Castiel always shows up at the worst moments." When the runners passed by the bench Castiel took a double take and stopped short, the woman ran on a bit, before noticing he partner missing. Dean felt nervous looking at the man, who was clad in a loose tank top. His skin was tan and his legs toned.

"Hello Dean, Balthazar." He nodded to them. "I didn't expect to see you two here. This is Anna." He motioned to the woman who had walked back to them.

"Hi," She smiled brightly. "You must be Dean." She shook his hand. Her eyes slid to Balthazar. "Balthazar." She said the name with contempt.

"Hello Anna, nice to see you in public, ever since your mishap." He seemed to be enjoying rubbing whatever he knew in her face.

"You know it was rigged." She bit her tongue from getting angrier around the others. "Well, nice meeting you." She nodded at Dean before walking away. Cas was hesitant to follow but Dean gave him a smile and somehow wall of his anxiety from last night washed away. He ran on after Anna.

"Well he's a lucky man." Dean said after they had gone.

"Why? Having to live with Anna would be hell." Dean's suspicions were confirmed. He wasn't interested, he had a girlfriend. What he was surprised of was how much it disappointed him.

Balthazar and Dean headed back to Armani. He loaded his bike into his car and said goodbye. They would see each other later that night. Meanwhile, Dean had a lot of thinking to do until the dinner shift would begin.


End file.
